Faced with severe issues regarding human rights, such as prison camps and threats of harsh censorship, many North Koreans choose to become refugees to escape the inhumane totalitarian regime. In 2010, the number of North Korean refugees in South Korea marked 20,000, recording a notable increase from year 2000. On the way to South Korea, North Korean refugees create routes across China, Mongolia, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand, hoping to reach the mainland alive. However, such journey is not promising – it may involve loss of loved ones, separation from family members, repatriation, and in extreme cases, death. In order to prevent the vicious cycle of such dehumanizing process, light of human rights must be shone upon them.

Sign the Petitions!

On December 11, 1969, a North Korean spy hijacked Korean Airlines flight YS-11 and redirected it to the North. When it landed in Hamheung, North Korea, the 46 passengers and four crew members were blindfolded, separated and investigated. Those who refused forced propaganda training were drugged or tortured.

The abductees’ families sought help from the international community, and two months later, North Korea returned 39 passengers to South Korea. But for reasons still unknown, North Korea never returned seven passengers and the four crew members.

It has been 42 years since the families in South Korea last saw the abducted family members, most of whom are now at a very advanced age. The families used all possible means domestically to resolve the issue within South and North Korea’s bilateral contacts, but with little success. The abductees’ families request assistance from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in investigating the fates of those remaining in the North and in facilitating a reunion with the aging relatives.

Remember that your signatures have the power to mobilize the United Nations. Please add yours to show the North Korean government that this issue, while decades old, has not expired, that North Korea cannot violate human rights without ramifications, and that the enforced silence of the abductees does not mean others will not speak in their stead.